2018: Post Week 1 NFL Top Five

OK, it’s really not that big of a deal, but when I made these posts last year is when I got some of my biggest viewership numbers, so people can at least tolerate my atrocious takes in these posts.

Side note for anybody wondering; my latest attempt to blog more frequently was less about laziness and more just not having much time.

Two jobs while simultaneously going to school full time and working on my school’s newspaper is TOUGH. Sheesh.

Anyways, you don’t care about my life, you just want to see how horrible my judgment on professional football is. Here’s my Top Five after Week 1 of the 2018 season:

Number Five – Kansas City Chiefs

I’m not going to lie, folks. This Patrick Mahomes guy is fun to watch. If he keeps connecting with Tyreek Hill and giving him 42.3 point fantasy weeks, I’ll like it even more. From the little bit of the game I saw, I worry about their defense. Not having Marcus Peters in the secondary is evident.

This week will be an interesting test for them. The Steelers are either going to come out really good or really bad. Losing to a team that couldn’t even beat the Browns wouldn’t really be as bad as it sounds, but it’s still not something you want to do.

Look at the bright side, Chiefs fans, at least it’s not a playoff game!

Number Four – Minnesota Vikings

Their win over the Niners was nothing special, but they were high enough on my preseason list to maintain a four spot.

Defense collected three picks on Jimmy Garoppolo who I still think will put up good numbers this year.

The difference maker for the Vikings is going to be if Dalvin Cook stays healthy. He didn’t make a huge impact in the run game, but he did in the passing game. If you can make a viable receiving threat out of him and pair him with Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen, I think good things will happen.

Who knows how their game goes this week, it mostly depends on the status of Aaron Rodgers. We can all justifiably assume that Aaron Rodgers will play, but how healthy will he be?

Number Three – Los Angeles Rams

The Rams are honestly just going to be fun to watch this year. Todd Gurley is fun to watch, Jared Goff has his moments, but is mostly fun to watch, and their defense is just scary.

I mentioned it’s evident that the Chiefs secondary no longer has Marcus Peters, it’s also evident the Rams secondary now does. He got his first pick as a Ram in his first game, which shouldn’t surprise anybody. It was one of three picks the Rams collected on the night as they ruined the first chapter of Jon Gruden’s comeback.

The Rams have got Arizona this week, a team they dominated last year and a team that just looked like a bunch of children against the Washington Redskins. I’d be very surprised to not see the Rams with a 2-0 record next week.

Number Two – New England Patriots

This is obligatory stuff and shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. It almost takes a downfall of epic proportions to take a Tom Brady team off a Top Five list.

Tom Brady was effective, Gronk did Gronk things, the sky is blue.

I was impressed at how well the defense performed against Deshaun Watson, I’ll give them that.

But there’s one concern: running back. Jeremy Hill tore his ACL and the status on Rex Burkhead, who was his replacement, is virtually unknown. That’s not a good combo entering this week against a defense as good as Jacksonville’s.

I’m not good with brash predictions, but I still like making them because I can brag about the rare times that I’m right. Give me the Jags with the upset this week.

Number One – Philadelphia Eagles

The main justification with this one is when you’re the defending champion and you win, there’s no need to move you.

I get it, the game wasn’t pretty, but don’t let the slim victory distract you from the fact that Atlanta is a really good football team. Nick Foles keeps winning football games and I still don’t know when the point will comes that it’s not surprising to me.

Philly also gets bonus points for the savage move of recreating the infamous Super Bowl troll play. Not only can he win games at QB, Nick Foles is clearly an elite receiver.

A game at Tampa Bay should be an intriguing one. Will we see more FitzMagic? Probably not, but you never know.